Hutchison replacements perplexed

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s decision to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Perry in next year’s gubernatorial primary is leaving her would-be Senate successors perplexed on how to handle their campaign finances.

The senator is not up for reelection until 2012, and she hasn’t announced whether — or when — she might resign from the Senate. But that hasn’t stopped other contenders from announcing their own campaigns and raising money in preparation for an upcoming Senate race.

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Already at least four Republicans are running and raising money: former Secretary of State Roger Williams, Texas Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams and state Senate President Florence Shapiro.

But the most aggressive campaign organization is being built by the Democratic mayor of Houston, Bill White, who raised $1.8 million over the past three months and has $2.1 million in the bank.

The mayor, though, doesn’t know quite how to handle all the money — and how much he can ask potential donors to give. He asked the Federal Election Commission this week for an advisory opinion about how much money he’s legally allowed to raise from individual contributors, given the prospect of multiple elections to fill Hutchison’s Senate seat.

Federal election law limits donors to $2,400 each for the primary and for the general election. The money raised must be spent on the type of race for which it was raised.

The complicating factor is the sheer number of elections that could be held to determine who will hold the seat. If Hutchison resigns before her term expires or is elected governor in 2010, her would-be successor would have to run in as many as five elections in the next three years.

There would be an all-party special election — held from May 2009 to November 2010 — to determine who would hold the seat until the 2012 election. If no candidate received a majority of the vote, a runoff would be held to determine the winner.

The regularly scheduled election would then be held in 2012, featuring different party primaries and the November general election. If no candidate received a majority of the vote in the primary, there would be another runoff then as well.

Hutchison is not required to step down as senator until she is elected governor. She has publicly said that she will not run for reelection to the Senate in 2012, but she has given little indication whether she’ll resign before the gubernatorial primary next March.